California has statutory restrictions on who may be shareholders or directors of professional medical corporations. The California Medical Board has rules on acceptable names under which a physician or medical group may practice medicine. We advise physicians and medical groups on initial formation of professional corporations and obtaining fictitious business names in compliance with professional requirements. We have also represented physicians, medical groups and management companies in the negotiation of physician employment and recruitment agreements and management services agreements.

We provide legal advice to healthcare entities regarding compliance with the California “Speier” and federal “Stark” laws against self-referral, federal anti-fraud and abuse laws, and state and federal laws regarding privacy and security of protected health information, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Compliance issues with respect to these laws arise in the context of a variety of transactions, such as physician ownership of ambulatory surgical centers and other healthcare facilities, physician-hospital joint ventures, management agreements and agreements between healthcare providers and their vendors.

Our attorneys are also regular outside counsel on international contracts to a number of pharmaceutical companies and subsidiaries of foreign pharmaceutical companies in Mexico, and have conducted seminars at some of those companies on compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.